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Monday, 25 June 2012

Summer is here and in Williams Lake that means hot hot days and stormy skies and thunder showers. In my house that means all windows are open full tilt at all times.

Meanwhile, I struggle along and try to keep house so my kids won't grow up in a sty and my husband will have clean socks. Sometimes I have to admit that I spend a morning curled on the couch reading a good book while the dishes in the sink lie ambitiously in their cooling soapy water.
But eventually I sit up and think...I suppose I ought to be productive.

Today I took the kids outside in the glorious glorious sunshine and twirled them. I love how they love to be with me. I know the day will come when that won't be the case so I intend to enjoy it now.

And I have to say that one of my favourite things about summer is having the ability to dress my babies in short shorts. Like running shorts from the 70s. It's the only time in life when chubby dimply legs are cute and my babies are powerless about what they wear, so I milk it for all it's worth. It's only right.

Also, my parents are coming and my older sister for the Stampede weekend coming up! I am so excited! Stampede weekend is my FAVOURITE time in Williams Lake. There's parades, and street parties, and fairgrounds, and mountain racing and broncs...it's awwwwwesome! And Ben (having grown up in WL and been to countless stampedes) isn't at all excited about it, so it's really great that my mom and pop and sis are coming to enjoy the festivities with me! YAY.

And my kids are cute so I made a montage.

Tonight at dinner Angus eventually discarded the spoon for good and decided to use his hands. He's such a little piggy. He's so cute it hurts:

Aaaaaand, for some art (this is an artist blog, after all) here is the river valley painting I mentioned a while back:

Sunday, 17 June 2012

It is technically Father's Day and time to write this post! (I apologize for the messy scribbley drawings, it's late!) (or early).

For those that don't know, I come from a large family, (12) of which my twin sister and I are the final masterpieces (you might say). I grew up with adoration in my heart for every one of my older brothers and sisters and would do -pretty much- anything that would gain me some status in their eyes. But I already knew I had status in my Dad's eyes.

One of my favourite baby pictures is of my Dad (younger and moustachioed) with a plump curly twin in each arm, laughing as we both bat at his face. We both looked so excited to be with Daddy and he was obviously delighted with us.

And one of my favourite memories, one that has always stood out, is one day when for some reason I went to work with my Dad. I don't remember a lot of the details. I don't remember why I was there, but I DO remember that it was one of the funnest days of my childhood. I remember being at Dad's office and he gave me a fluorescent pair of star-shaped sunglasses (there was nothing I loved better than anything fluorescent). And we went to Dairy Queen. And when we walked to his car, he told me how you had to step on only the cracks in the road or the crocodiles would get you.

I was absolutely sure he was the best Dad ever.

Little girls grow up and become rotten teenagers, it's just the way the world works (or so I tell myself when I begin to feel guilty). But under all the teenage angst I was still a child who adored her Dad.
We had certain rituals we used to play out, always the same way. Like how I would casually steal food from Dad's plate at the dinner table and he would put on a show of being outraged. But then I would reach for my water glass just as he finished it off with greedy, unapologetic gulps.

There was one time also that I will never forget...it was when my Dad was driving me to work, at my first job at Tim Horton's. We were late and I was putting on my shoes and socks in the car as Dad sped to get me there on time. Only--I must have dropped one of my socks in the driveway, because I only had one!

"Dad I only have one sock!" I panicked. I couldn't work an 8 hour shift with one bare foot sweating and sliding around in my shoe. It was too gross.

Dad thought fast.

We were coming up to a red light. Without saying anything, Dad put the car in park, opened his car door, and began to take off his shoe.

His sock was giant and bulky, but my Dad, as a business man, is always clean so it wasn't gross and sweaty or anything. (thank goodness)

All the rest of the day at work I felt a warm glow. I knew my Dad would go through great lengths for me and his funny small little gesture made me feel loved and special.

There are lots of great Dads out there, but I am happy that I got the one I did. You couldn't ask for a better one.

Friday, 8 June 2012

So Ben and I went to see Snow White and The Huntsman the other night. I must say that, while I enjoyed it, it wasn't what I was expecting. (Spoiler alert: you may want to skip this part if you haven't seen it yet).

For one thing, it was more of a guy movie--tons of action and battles and skirmishes. And the romance wasn't satisfying. I'm just saying. It's traditionally a romantic story, right? So where's the pay off after waiting through all those battles and fighting and dwarves? A look across a room? No!

THIS is what it should have been!

Moving on--remember a while back when I posted about how my hair refused to curl after I gave birth to Angus? Well since then certain developments have taken place. My hair is still not curly. It is straight. EXCEPT. For two tightly curled wings coming from each temple.

Sigh. Oh well.

Meanwhile, our family has started the GAPS diet, and this is day three of utter hell. GAPS stands for 'gut and psychology syndrome' which is a blanket that covers anything from autism and dyslexia, to ADD/ADHD and schizophrenia. Basically, it's a special diet designed to heal the gut so that your body can digest things properly and your brain gets the proper nutrients, etc. It does wonders for people with autism and food intolerances, and basically all those things I mentioned above. Anyone who wants more information can visit this website.

It is hell not because the food is bad or anything, but my kids, due to the toxic 'die-off' (the pathogenic bacteria dying and releasing toxins) are throwing up and refusing to eat anything. But at least they are drinking plenty of water, so I am trying not to get too worried. I am getting information about a GAPS practitioner in town who will be able to help me, hopefully soon.

And now: sometimes I like to give myself random art challenges, like this one. Last night I said to myself, 'you must draw a picture using only four colours' and well, here we are! I know it's nothing special, but it was fun.